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How to fight with your co-founder

Every founding team is a mix of personalities, communication styles, and strengths. That can be a superpower or cause founders to butt heads. Without a clear framework for navigating conflict, even the strongest teams can fall apart before they really get started. This week on Build Mode, Isabelle Johannessen sits down with Ian Schmidt, strategic…

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Every founding team is a mix of personalities, communication styles, and strengths. That can be a superpower or cause founders to butt heads. Without a clear framework for navigating conflict, even the strongest teams can fall apart before they really get started.

This week on Build Mode, Isabelle Johannessen sits down with Ian Schmidt, strategic advisor at Trimergence, to unpack the “personal operating system” behind every founder. As a coach, consultant, and occasionally a bouncer, Ian helps teams build the self-awareness and relational tools they need to scale without unnecessary friction.

They discuss:

🧩 Why founders should invest in coaching before conflict escalates
🧩 How to repair after conflict goes sideways
🧩 The importance of understanding your own triggers as a leader
🧩 How to create space for the self-work that actually saves time long-term

Following last week’s episode on family co-founders, this conversation expands those lessons into practical tools any founding team can use.

Apply to Startup Battlefield: We are looking for early-stage companies that have an MVP. So nominate a founder (or yourself): techcrunch.com/apply. Be sure to say you heard about Startup Battlefield from the Build Mode podcast.

TechCrunch Disrupt: If you’re thinking about applying to Startup Battlefield, then October 13 to 15 in San Francisco, we’re back for TechCrunch Disrupt, where the Startup Battlefield 200 takes the stage. So if you want to cheer them on, or just network with 1000s of founders, VCs, and tech enthusiasts, then grab your tickets.

Use code buildmode15 for 15% off any ticket type.

Chapters:
00:00 Why Conflict Isn’t the Problem
02:18 The Founder Operating System
04:21 Why Co-Founders Clash
05:34 How to Map Your Personal OS
10:26 Start Early or Pay Later
16:59 Frameworks for Navigating Conflict
23:32 Relationships, Loneliness & Support Systems
31:15 Identity, Habits & Scaling Yourself

New episodes of Build Mode drop every Thursday. Hosted by Isabelle Johannessen. Produced and edited by Maggie Nye. Audience development led by Morgan Little. Special thanks to the Foundry and Cheddar video teams.

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1 Comment

1 Comment

  1. @Ladynerd90

    March 19, 2026 at 12:34 pm

    Wonderful episode and much needed

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CNET

Inside the Despacio Tent at Portola 2026

The Despacio tent is a temple of music for audio geeks, and the brainchild of LCD Soundsystem frontman James Murphy, Stephen and David Dewaele of 2manydjs aka Soulwax, and audio engineer John Klett. First created in 2013, Despacio makes its way from festival to festival, blasting dancers with vintage vinyl from seven McIntosh speaker stacks…

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The Despacio tent is a temple of music for audio geeks, and the brainchild of LCD Soundsystem frontman James Murphy, Stephen and David Dewaele of 2manydjs aka Soulwax, and audio engineer John Klett. First created in 2013, Despacio makes its way from festival to festival, blasting dancers with vintage vinyl from seven McIntosh speaker stacks that make up the 50,000-watt sound system along with the lighting rig and iconic disco ball that complete the experience. CNET social producer Faith Chihil got a chance to catch it at Portola Music Festival in San Francisco and here’s what she found. #despacio #portolamusicfestival #festival #audiophile #vinyl

Video Credits:
Host & Editor: Faith Chihil

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Science & Technology

It’s not AI anymore, it’s ‘super intelligence’ (according to the White House) | Equity Podcast

This week, the White House got nearly every major tech CEO in one room — Zuckerberg, Bezos, Musk, and Anthropic’s Dario Amodei among them — to sign an AI safety pledge that President Donald Trump called “morally binding.” Trump also signed an executive order officially rebranding AI as “super intelligence,” and meanwhile, Meta and OpenAI…

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This week, the White House got nearly every major tech CEO in one room — Zuckerberg, Bezos, Musk, and Anthropic’s Dario Amodei among them — to sign an AI safety pledge that President Donald Trump called “morally binding.” Trump also signed an executive order officially rebranding AI as “super intelligence,” and meanwhile, Meta and OpenAI are putting friendlier faces on their AI products, even as the biggest money in AI still appears to be coming from the enterprise.

On this episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, and Sean O’Kane dig into this week’s AI moves, the ugly economics of consumer AI, plus the shifting IPO market and a handful of startup deals.

If you enjoy our show, join us at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, where Equity will kick things off with a live episode on the Builders Stage at 9 a.m.

Get 25% off your tickets with code Equity25 at TechCrunch.com/events.

Subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You can also follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod.

Chapters:

00:00 Intro

0:53 TechCrunch Disrupt 2026

3:11 Trump, AI CEOs, and the era of “super intelligence”

11:09 Consumer AI gets a friendlier face with Muse and Dots

18:53 What Anthropic’s IPO plans say about the market

26:12 Quartermaster raises $140M to track what’s happening at sea

30:26 Ex-Tesla supply chain team builds Atomic

33:54 Charter Space brings insurance to the stars

36:02 Outro

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CNET

Apple’s Health Age Test Is Brutally Honest | One More Thing

In the public beta version of iOS 27.2, Apple’s Health app gets a redesign that includes a series of tests to measure your health against your actual age. Bridget Carey walks (and squats) through her Health Age test and offers tips on what to expect. You can find the products mentioned in this video linked…

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In the public beta version of iOS 27.2, Apple’s Health app gets a redesign that includes a series of tests to measure your health against your actual age. Bridget Carey walks (and squats) through her Health Age test and offers tips on what to expect.

You can find the products mentioned in this video linked below
Apple Watch Ultra 4 GPS + Cellular 49mm with AppleCare+ `
Apple iPhone 17 Pro, US Version, 256GB, eSIM
*CNET may get a commission on these offers

Read more about Apple’s Health app on CNET.com
Apple’s Health App Now Supports Both Menopause and Perimenopause
An Apple Health and ChatGPT Integration Could Be Coming

Timecode Chapters:
0:24 New Apple Health App for iOS 27
1:07 Apple Health Longevity Movement Assesment Demos
1:58 Core and strength tests
2:46 Flexibility tests
2:59 VO2 max tests
3:53 Adding your lab results to Apple Health
5:06 Adding nutrition and mental health data to Apple Health
5:53 Apple Health personal summaries powered by Apple Intelligence
6:14 Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Health Rediness Score
6:36 Look out for Apple Health Age in iOS 27.2

Video Credits:
Host: Bridget Carey
Scripted by: Bridget Carey
Producer: Carly Marsh
Camera: Carly Marsh, John Schwartz, Bridget Carey
Video Editor: Carly Marsh
Thumbnail Designer: Tharon Green

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#apple #iphone18 #iOS 27.2 #applewatch

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